


By Blood & Choice

by Larkenprimavara



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker, Gen, Rey Skywalker, Skywalker Family Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 23:17:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12444054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larkenprimavara/pseuds/Larkenprimavara
Summary: Snippets of Ben Solo's life at the temple and his relationship with his uncle and cousin.





	By Blood & Choice

**Author's Note:**

> "Cousins by Blood - Friends by Choice" -Darlene Shaw

Ben remembered the exact moment she was born.

He isn't there with his aunt when it happens, _stars_ he isn't even on the same planet, but he can still hear the newborn wails of his cousin through the Force. Her sudden presence is like a supernova, but it isn't long before the intense Light calms into something more familiar; more like Mama and Uncle Luke. 

* * *

  
Matching the potent Force energy with the tiny, red face of the baby is stunning. All the times he has visited Uncle Luke’s academy he had felt the budding potential of the students, marveled at the untapped power he could sense deep within their beings, but none of them could compare to her. Every breath she takes seems to unravel and rebuild the universe. Uncle Luke is the same, but more compact, more controlled. The baby doesn’t know about her power, doesn’t know how to reign it in like everyone else. Did Grandfather feel like this when he was younger, he muses to himself, did Ben?

* * *

  
_Rey,_ her mother softly murmurs, still stroking the baby’s cotton-soft hair, _Luke and I decided on Rey_. Ben thinks it's a fitting name, her fate plainly spelled out for her. She will be the light of her father, grow to be a ray of hope for the galaxy and Uncle’s Jedi. Ben does not envy the heavy destiny implied, but he secretly wishes his own future would be so clear, instead of the of the clouded darkness he sees whenever Uncle Luke can get him to meditate. 

* * *

  
Uncle Luke is often too busy with his academy and the new Jedi Order to visit, so it is a couple years before he sees Rey again. Dad had just dropped him off at the temple with words of _We love you, and we’ll be back soon. I promise._ Ben is thirteen and too old to cry, but Rey senses his pain. While she, Ben, and Uncle Luke stand and watch Dad’s ship leave atmo, Rey waddles up to him, her small three-year-old legs still a little clumsy, and reaches out for his hand. She can’t understand his pain; her parents never left her alone on a planet in the sole care of droids, her parents never argued through the night over unimportant things, her parents hadn’t shucked her off on her aunt and uncle because they couldn’t handle her powers. She will never understand his pain… but he accepts her comfort nonetheless. 

* * *

  
Life at the temple is pleasant, quieter than the city planets of the Republic. The voices in his head have grown quieter and less erratic, and sometimes he is even able to clearly hear Grandfather speak to him. Those are always the best times. 

* * *

  
Uncle Luke has hundreds of students and a young child of his own, but he never seems to be too busy to talk to Ben. He goes to Uncle Luke often, to seek comfort for the loneliness and fear that comes with being in an unfamiliar place away from his parents.  
_I know how you feel_ , he says sometimes. _I was just nineteen when my Aunt and Uncle died. I joined the rebellion soon after._  
Funny, Ben thinks while listening, nineteen seems so old but Uncle Luke speaks as if he was a child.  
_I didn’t know anybody then…, but you’ll never be alone Ben. You have me, your aunt, and even Rey! We’re your family and we’ll always love you._

Uncle Luke had a funny little way of making him feel better, even in the worst of times. 

* * *

  
In three years, it seems, Rey had done little to learn how to reign in her power. She is untrained, only attending basic meditation sessions with her father, but her natural ability often seems to outmatch even the oldest padawans. Ben plays with her whenever he has the time. They float rocks, toys, and even small animals with the force, seeing who can raise them the highest (Ben’s record is 3 meters) and sometimes when Uncle Luke and the older students aren’t around, they sneak into one of the training rooms and spar with practice sabers. She is one of the best parts of living at the temple, and the Force always feels clearer when she is near, even more so than Mama and Uncle Luke, whose Light is dimmed by exhaustion and an age-old sorrow. Rey, on the other hand, is a child whose greatest pain is just a skinned knee or scraped elbow. She has boundless energy and remarkable charisma. She always manages to rope the other students, no matter the age, into one of her little schemes or adventures. Ben sometimes feels jealous of how easily she can connect with others, but it never lasts long. Especially since it’s always Ben she goes to for help first. 

* * *

  
Rey could also see Grandfather (and Ben privately suspected that Uncle Luke could too). Ben has always felt self-conscious of acknowledging Grandfather whenever he's around other people, always fears he’d be seen as crazy or delusional. Rey, as always, holds none of his ever-present nervousness. He had found her earlier that day, amiably chatting with the blue, glowing figure of Anakin Skywalker behind the temple. At the time, he had been too stunned to interrupt them, forgetting why he had been searching for her in the first place, but Rey soon noticed him.  
_Ben! Grandpa Ani came to visit me today! You want to hear his stories too, right?_  
Grandfather sounds different when he is with Rey. His voice softer, smoother; less like a labored rasp. He also seems less angry, even seems happy. Ben wonders if it is Rey’s natural Light that brings this side out of Grandfather? Ben wonders why Grandfather has never smiled or laughed for him. Maybe, he thinks traitorously, it is the same reason Dad and Mama haven’t come back for him yet. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so sorry if the writing is weird or the characters are OOC. I just wanted to post this before it was jossed by TLJ.  
> If you like Rey and Kylo in a familial relationship, checkout my Tumblr space-cousins.tumblr.com


End file.
